Cigarette lighters



March 11, 1969. 1 W. RETZLER 3,432,248

CIGARETTE LIGHTERS Filed Aug. 7, 1967 United States Patent O 3,432,248 CIGARETTE LIGHTERS William Retzler, Wickham, England, assignor to Colibri Lighters Limited, a British company Filed Aug. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 658,820 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Sept. 8, 1966,

40,221/ 66 U.S. Cl. 431-149 Int. Cl. F23q 2/00; B6Sd 43/14, 51/00 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE lWith the aim of both protecting the working parts of the igniting mechanism, and in providing an aesthetically satisfying design, attempts have been made to construct the actuaing member, that is the thumb or ngerpiece, of automatic cigarette lighters, so that it has a continuity of shape with the outer casing shell of the lighter. It has previously been accepted that this entails arranging the actuating member so that when it is depressed and moves downwards, and possibly backwards away from the burner as well, it moves either into, or closely over the outside of, the top of the shell. In the former case this necessarily involves a step at the top of the shell and in the latter case a step at the bottom of the actuating member. Not only is this step unsightly, but from a practical consideration it provides a ledge where dirt may accumulate. From a manufacturing viewpoint it also means that the top of the shell or the bottom of the actuating member must be rolled inwards to conceal the raw edges of the metal and this beading incurs an additional costly manufacturing step.

In accordance with the present invention a cigarette lighter has an actuating member which, upon depression to operate the lighter, moves backwards away from the burner and downwards, and which has a downwardly depending skirt the bottom edge of which prior to depression of the member sits over an outer casing shell so that the outer surfaces of the skirt and shell are in alignment with one another, the parts of the skirt on the ltwo sides of the member converging towards one another in a direction from the front end to the rear end of the member and the opposite side walls of the part of the shell over which the skirt sits converging in a similar direction so that when the member is depressed and moves backwards and downwards, the skirt rides from above the top of the shell and down over the outside of the shell. When the member is released it will ride back, under the action of the usual return spring, to above the top of the shell again.

With this construction the shell does not hinder the movement of the actuating member but prior to operation the actuating member and shell provide together a substantially continuous outside surface. Not only does 'this mean that the actuating member can be shaped so that it merges fully with the shell into the overall shape of the lighter, but it provides the maximum protection for the moving parts of the igniting mechanism and ledges are minimised. Manufacturing costs are also reduced because the raw edges of the shell and actuating member can simply abut or at least face one another prior to operation of the lighter and no beading of the edges is necessary.

ICC

The convergence of the shell walls and the parts of the skirt on opposite sides of the actuating member may be a straight taper or may be curved depending upon the overall shape of the lighter. For example, the shell may be substantially oval in plan or in the case of a table lighter may be hexagonal or even circular. IIn each case however the skirted portion of the actuating member should not extend across the shell past its position of maximum width otherwise it will not be possible to provide the continuous convergence of the skirt and shell from the front to rear end of the actuating member.

The invention is particularly applicable to lighters in which, at the very beginning of the movement of the member to operate the lighter, at least the front end of the actuating member moves initially slightly upwards and backwards and over a dead centre position before moving downwards and backwards with a snap action. This enables the skirt to move backwards sufliciently to be completely clear of the shell before moving downwards over rthe shell and possible rubbing between the skirt and shell is avoided.

Examples of pocket and table lighters constructed in accordance with the present invention are illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the pocket lighter prior to operation;

FIGURE 2 is an elevation similar to FIGURE 1 but showing the thumbpiece actuating member depressed and the lighter in operation;

FIGURE 3 is a section taken on the line A-A' in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a section taken on the line B-B' in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view from above of the lighter prior to operation;

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 but of a table lighter;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6 but showing the thumbpiece actuating member of the lighter depressed and the lighted in operation and;

FIGURE 8 is a plan of part of the lighter as shown in FIGURE 7.

The pocket lighter, shown in FIGURES 1 to 5, has an outer casing shell 9 which is of substantially constant, oval, horizontal section. At the front of the lighter the top 10 of the shell is formed with a burner opening 11 and behind this a thumbpiece actuating member 12 is mounted by means ot a pair of pivotal links 18, forming a four bar chain. This actuating member 12 consists of a top wall 13 and a downwardly extending skirt 14. Prior to operation of the lighter, as shown in FIGURES l, 3 and 5, the thumbpiece 12 merges completely into the overall shape of the shell 9 with the bottom edge 15 of the skirt sitting on an upper edge 14 and shell 9 then form one continuous smooth surface.

Owing to the oval shape of the shell 9 in plan, and the fact that the thumbpiece 12 does not extend forwards towards the burner opening 11 beyond the maximum width of the shell 9, the parts of the skirt 14 on the two sides of the thumbpiece converge continuously towards one another in the rearward direction away from the burner opening 11. The opposite walls of the shell 9 coverage in a similar fashion. The effect of this is that when the lighter is operated and the thumbpiece 12 moved initially upwards and backwards, as the links 18 move thought a vertical position, and then through its main stroke backwards and downwards to the position shown in FIGURES 2 and 4, the bottom of the skirt 14 no longer overlies the shell 9 and is able to move downwards over the sides of the shell 9. In other words, when the thumbpiece is depressed, and as indicated in FIGURE 4, at each vertical transverse section through the linger piece 12, the internal width (a) between the two parts of the skirt and the ngerpiece 12 is greater 'than the external width (b) of the shell 9.

The table lighter, shown in FIGURES 6, 7 and 8 although larger, and of a hexagonal, rather than oval shape in the plan, is similarly constructed to the rst example. In this case, a thumbpiece 12a merges in the inoperative position with the cylindrical hexagonal shell 9a. A snuifer cap 16 attached to the thumbpiece 12a lls a burner opening 11a prior to operation. The thumbpiece 12a forms one half of the top of the lighter and is divided from the top 10a of the shell along a line joining two apices of the hexagon. The opposite straight sides of the skirt 14a therefore converge linearly towards one another in a rearward direction and in exactly the same manner the two facets of the side wall of the shell 9a, immediately beneath these parts of the skirt also converge in the same direction. When the `thumbpiece 12a is depressed to operate the lighter, and moves backwards and downwards, the skirt 14a is again able to ride off the top and down the sides of the shell 9a. This is indicated in FIG- URE 8 where, upon operation of the lighter, the internal width (a) of the thumbpiece 12a between the two parts of the skirt 14a along the sides of the thumbpiece is greater than the external width of the shell 9a at the same position. In this example there is a slight gap 17 between the bottom edge 15a of the skirt 14a and the top of the shell 9a in the inoperative position shown in FIGURE 6. This gap 17, which is less than the maximum downward movements of the lthumbpiece, ensures that the skirt 14a is clear of the shell 9a before the skirt overlaps the shell.

I claim:

1. A cigarette lighter comprising an outer casing shell,

a burner adjacent the top of said shell, and actuating member laterally displaced from said burner and adjacent to the top of said shell, means mounting said actuating member for movement backwards away from said burner and downwards to operate said lighter, wherein said actuating member and said outer shell provide downwardly depending skirt parts of said actuating member converging towards one another in a direction from the front end to the rear end of said actuating member, and opposite side Wall parts of said shell beneath said skirt parts converging in a similar manner whereby prior to operation of said lighter said skirt parts and said side parts are in flush alignment with each other but when said actuating member moves backwards and downwards said skirt parts ride from above the top of said shell wall part and down over the outside of said wall parts.

2. A lighter according to claim 1, wherein said means mounting said actuating member is adapted to cause at least the front end of said actuating member nearer to said burner to move initially upwards and backwards and over a dead centre portion before moving downwards and backwards with a snap action upon operation of said actuating member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,150,508 9/1964 Smith 431-130 3,159,991 v12/1964 Maltner et al 43 l-130 X EDWARD I. MICHAEL, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 

